Top 10 most overcrowded train journeys revealed

trinidadone

Some trains are carrying more than double their capacity as the network buckles under demand at peak times, new figures show.

The figures, from the Department for Transport (DfT), cover England and Wales and are based on standard class passengers travelling on weekday services in autumn last year.

The top 10 most crowded trains are:
1. 7.16am East Grinstead to London Bridge - Capacity: 640 - Passengers: 1,366
2. 7.55am Cambridge to London King's Cross - Capacity: 202 - Passengers: 426
3. 5.08pm Sutton to St Albans City - Capacity - 391 - Passengers: 758
4. 6.57am Brighton to Bedford - Capacity: 630 - Passengers: 1,215
5. 4pm Manchester Airport to Edinburgh - Capacity - 191 - Passengers: 357
6. 7.27am Reigate to London Bridge - Capacity: 669 - Passengers: 1,233
7. 5.18pm London Paddington to Oxford - Capacity: 242 - Passengers: 445
8. 4.22am Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport - Capacity: 191 - Passengers: 344
9. 4.26pm Bedford to Brighton - Capacity: 372 - Passengers: 669
10. 6.13pm London Euston to Birmingham New Street - Capacity: 412 - Passengers: 729

Campaigners have demanded improvements in the wake of the figures, arguing that commuters should not be expected to face year-on-year fare hikes if the situation did not change.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of passenger watchdog Transport Focus, added: "Continuing to invest in new trains, better frequency, track capacity and improved signalling will ultimately give passengers a better chance of getting a seat or at least stand in some comfort.

The Southern Railway train from East Grinstead to London Bridge is the most overcrowded service in the country Credit: PA

http://www.itv.com/news/central/story/2017-07-27/top-10-most-overcrowded-train-journeys-revealed/

Carrot007

And this is why I do not get trains.

If they are overcapacity people should be turned away.

This is why guards are needed and what they should be taking care of.

They ashould also not be able to sell tickets once capacity has been reached.

KeithP

Link please.

Rosemary7391

Carrot007 wrote: »

And this is why I do not get trains.

If they are overcapacity people should be turned away.

This is why guards are needed and what they should be taking care of.

They ashould also not be able to sell tickets once capacity has been reached.

Most people travelling at that time would have a season ticket that lets them travel at any time. They need more train capacity or fewer people travelling at the same time.

Carrot007

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

Most people travelling at that time would have a season ticket that lets them travel at any time. They need more train capacity or fewer people travelling at the same time.

OK good point, however my main point still stands, that trains should NEVER run over capacity.

Also on your point. I fundimentaly disagree with the nonsence pre-purchasing to get a good price !!!!!!!!. Trains should be ticket on the day only and at a reasonable price.

The current method just allows the trains to provide a !!!! service because they have already been paid.

KeithP

Carrot007 wrote: »

Trains should be ticket on the day only and at a reasonable price.

Do you think most people* would be happy buying a ticket for a particular train, rather than have the flexibility currently offered?




*I purposely didn't say you because you never travel by train

ceredigion

Remove all public subsidiary, let market forces sort it out. price the over capacity out. train company's are happy the passenger that can pay the fare are happy, the rest don't matter.

Mobeer

Carrot007 wrote: »

And this is why I do not get trains.

If they are overcapacity people should be turned away.

This is why guards are needed and what they should be taking care of.

They ashould also not be able to sell tickets once capacity has been reached.

Using that approach a lot of people would never get to their destinations. Plus what happens when a train (or several) home gets cancelled? Do we just leave customers stranded until the following day because the train is "at capacity".

In practice people do get turned away - when no more people can physically fit into the train. You can claim Delay Repay in this case, though you have to explain why you did not catch the train.

discat11

Carrot -Most guards would totally agree with you on the limiting of numbers boarding, I speak as one who no longer works in the industry but did work for 15 years for BR and then a major train operator on HST and many other train types large & small.

A guard would love trains without overcrowding, it would make their job easier, safer and more pleasant.

Unfortunately whilst a guard can indeed refuse to take a train that is dangerously overcrowded there are some strange viewpoints from the train operators on what is regarded as 'dangerously overcrowded'.

I was always informed when I pressed senior managers on this issue that provided the guard can despatch the train safely and get to essential safety equipment then s/he should take the train & the company would take a very dim view on staff who made a fuss about that, no matter how overcrowded.

Frankly I've worked HST trains with 300 or more standing from Paddington to Taunton & beyond, in fact some in the Xmas period were still overcrowded when I reached Plymouth. I was unhappy about this obviously (e.g. if someone urgently needed me 4 coaches away I'd be forced to emergency stop the train and climb down to the track to get round to them), but what can a guard do when given this sort of advice?
Bear in mind I was also an official H&S representative too -and still couldn't get anything done.

A guard cannot stop passengers from boarding once the train is already full in their opinion -for one thing most trains have many doors, for another most passengers boarding won't take any notice of the guard asking them not to board, the only thing they can do is refuse to take the train if 'it gets silly'.
Obviously this doesn't help anyone, since those passengers don't simply disappear -they'll be queuing for the next train which will then be twice as busy & so on.

Tickets, even in the regulated BR days, are of numerous types both 'walk up' and 'advance' most are flexible such as season tickets that have already been mentioned.

Unless every type of ticket is scrapped and then only immediate walk up fares or advance restricted to 1 train and 1 train only are available it would be completely impossible to get to the point of controlling overcrowding.

Unfortunately this will never happen since deregulation has actually exacerbated and enforced a larger range of tickets to be produced and these all have to be offered for the train operators to comply with their license.

The companies generally hire their trains and the trains are either fixed sets (i.e. x many coaches) or can only have as many carriages as the platforms allow, so adding carriages doesn't solve anything either (even if spare carriages actually existed in most cases).

The platforms are owned by one company, the train is owned by another, and the services are operated by yet another and that is in the simplest of examples -welcome to privatised railways!

martindow

A HST is very different to a suburban train which are designed with a lot of standing space. Newer ones for Crossrail that will travel into the suburbs have a lot of longitudinal seating and relatively few seats - they are designed to carry 1500 passengers with 450 seated. Standing passengers does not equal overcrowded.

Figures for tube lines here give an idea of the ratios

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2016/08/05/london-tube-train-capacities/

Trains are designed with a number of standing passengers in mind.

elverson

Carrot007 wrote: »

And this is why I do not get trains.

If they are overcapacity people should be turned away.

This is why guards are needed and what they should be taking care of.

They ashould also not be able to sell tickets once capacity has been reached.

How would you enforce that on a 10-coach train with 20 doorways?